Munich: A former senior US diplomat and head of a Washington-based think tank said he doesn't see a happy ending to Iran's nuclear issue, blaming the Iranian leadership for not reading the international commitment to block the country from acquiring nuclear arms.
In an interview with Gulf News, Dr Zalmay Khalilzad, retired US ambassador to the United Nations and chairman of Khalilzad Associates in Washington DC, said he had always been in favour of pursuing a diplomatic solution with Iran, but he felt the deadline set by the US administration to resolve the issue diplomatically by the end of 2009 or switch to intensifying the sanctions has already been reached with Iran, which is wasting time on technicalities.
"This is definitely not a good way to respond after the US and the international community extended a hand to them. This clearly shows that they wrongly believe their tactics will pay off eventually," he said.
No other option
"The Iranian way of handling the crisis and their endless tactics to buy more time, and the current internal developments taking place in Iran have made it very difficult for people calling for a diplomatic solution to the crisis, including myself, to keep their voices loud and heard. I think we have no other option but to go for intensifying the sanctions against Iran," Khalilzad said. According to Khalilzad, the United States should not give the Iranian regime any extra time because it would signal to the Iranian opposition that it was ready to reward the regime.
Asked if he feels that intensifying the sanctions will work, Khalilzad said sanctions have never worked in recent history except in the case of South Africa, which was a different story.
"I don't think that taking more steps towards sanctions will work, but we have no choice but to follow it. We cannot go for the military solution without exploiting all the means in our hands.
"No one knows the outcome of using military force, as was the case in Afghanistan," he added.
